Saturday, October 24, 2009

Notre Dame has lost to Boston College six straight times. That's the equivolent of rolling two 6's six straight times in Monopoly, Mark May going six straight minutes without someone in the room wanting to punch him in the face, and ESPN going six straight days without mentioning how Tim Tebow just wants it more than anyone. It ranks right up there with four game losing streaks to Air Force (early 80's) and Northwestern (four years before Ara came to ND...when Ara was the coach at Northwestern) as the most embrassing streaks in program history.

My pure and unadulterated hatred of Boston College the school has been tempered because I had family that went there, but the hate of their football team burns strong. A large part of it is the thorn they've been in our side over the past two decades, but it's also the things off the field that stokes the fire. They have the most obnoxious fans of any opponent we play--which is saying something considering we play Michigan and Michigan State every year. I've been to five or six ND-BC games at Notre Dame Stadium. There was only one time BC students did not interrupt the pep rally. There are message boards on ESPN where BC fans troll around the ND boards and instigate fights, something they seem to enjoy far more than talking about their actual team. They have an unbelievably huge chip on their shoulder when it comes to Notre Dame Football.

Boston College is a good football program. They deserve credit for what they've done over the past two decades. They absolutely have had our number since 2001 and they deserve a tip of the cap for that as well...but any Boston College fan that thinks that they're even remotely near the level of Notre Dame football needs to get their breaks tweaked. The most successful stretch in Boston College history has netted ZERO major bowl APPEARANCES, let alone wins. Arguably the worst stretch in Notre Dame history has netted THREE major bowl apperances. Listen to the BC fan argue his point. Sad...

Real quick let's look at today's contest. Most experts are picking Notre Dame to roll. I'm not convinced. It's going to be a sloppy field and BC's offense--specifically on the ground seems to be rolling. Notre Dame's front seven has definitely been improving, but it's still tough for me to totally trust them. Historically Notre Dame has not played well on the second weekend of fall break. The crowd is usually flat and the team has had a tendency to follow suit (anyone remember the Stanford game in the early 90's?).

Part of me thinks this is going to be a bloodbath where Notre Dame finally puts the little brother of our schedule in its place. The larger part of me thinks this is an ugly game where we once again make it closer than it needs to be. Zero part of me thinks we lose this game.